The company, which offers both NHS and private dental treatments, runs 205 dental practices. It believes that it can double this number as the market copes with a major shake-up of the dental market following a critical review of the sector by the Office of Fair Trading.

However, Duke Street Capital, the private equity majority owner of Oasis, needs to raise a fresh injection of funding — either by attracting a new investor, or selling the company.

“I don’t know what is the best option, that is why we have appointed DC Advisory,” said Justin Ash, the chief executive of Oasis.

“But we need someone who is committed to our aggressive expansion plans.”

There are 10,000 dental practices in the UK — 90pc of them independent. Mr Ash said 900 independents could be forced to sell up or close as a result of stricter regulation and pressure on dentists to invest more heavily in their practices.

The OFT report, published last week, found that many consumers were given insufficient information to make an informed choice of dentist and treatments, and that the dental industry was not always working in their best interest.

Mr Ash said about half of his target of 400 practices could come from opening new outlets, and half by snapping up independents forced to throw in the towel.